After Mass you are welcome to join the community for a tea gathering

Talk and discussion meeting First Tuesday of every month (4:00-6:00 p.m.) at Notre Dame De France Church

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4/10/17 is the Mid Autumn Festival. After Confirmation Mass on Sunday 1/10/17,our Spiritual family, the Chinese Community will celebrate the 2 happy occasions together. All welcome.

October is the month of the Rosary as we give special honour to Mary, our Blessed Mother. During this month, Rosary will be recited from 1:30pm in Church and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will be finished by 1:30pm in the little chapel.

After Mass you are welcome to join the community for a tea gathering

Talk and discussion meeting First Tuesday of every month (4:00-6:00 p.m.) at Notre Dame De France Church

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During the month of November, we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Let us especially offer our prayers, sacrifices,good deeds, Masses during November for the reduction of sufferings in Purgatory for our loved ones who had died. The Book of the Dead will be placed at the back of the Church each Sunday. Please write the names of your late family members and friends in the Book and it will be brought up to the altar during time of offertory.

On 1/11/17 is All Saints Day and 2/11/17 is All Souls Day. Please check and attend Masses at your local Church.

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NOT GOD’S BUT MAN’S

If Peter was to be rewarded according to his behaviour in today’s gospel, his reward would surely not be a very substantial one!

It is difficult enough for anyone to accept suffering and death, especially if it is of someone we know and love. How much more difficult it must have been for Peter to accept when Jesus spoke about his own grievous suffering and death. Even though Jesus also told Peter that he would be raised up on the third day, Peter was not really paying very much attention to what Jesus was saying. Instead Peter was so engulfed in his own thoughts and emotions when he told Jesus “…this must not happen” that Peter totally missed and ignored Jesus’ hint about the resurrection… and continued to focus only on Jesus’ suffering and death. Peter was not asking Jesus why it had to happen… Peter only expressed his thought (and wish) that “this must not happen!” As if Peter had the ability to do something about it!!! If Jesus helped everyone, why should Jesus suffer and be killed? With this line of thinking in mind, one can understand why Jesus called Peter Satan and called Peter an obstacle in his path in doing the Father’s will.

For Jesus, it must have been even more difficult: being one of us but also knowing that he was going to suffer grievously and die at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and the scribes. His suffering was not only physical but also psychological because those who knew what was written in the scriptures about him, were the same people who would make Jesus suffer and die, who would totally reject him and in doing so, they would also reject the Father in Heaven. Thus Peter’s comments in response to Jesus’ “suffering and death” meant that he did not understand Jesus which also meant that Peter (not too dissimilar to the elders, the chief priests and the scribes) was rejecting the Father and his will. Although Peter accepted Jesus for who Jesus is, Peter was not ready to accept the will of the Father: that Jesus was to suffer, die and give his life for “everyone” – yes, even for those who have not accepted him!

Once Jesus rebuked Peter for not accepting the will of the Father (i.e. Peter was not letting himself (and Jesus’ life) in the hands of the Father), Jesus reminds his disciples that if anyone wanted to follow him, they must renounce themselves and take up their cross and do what Jesus himself did, even if it meant that one must be ready to suffer and die (as Jesus did) if that was the will of the Father. Peter, and all the other Apostles and true followers of Jesus, understood this teaching and were ready to do the same thing. They suffered and gave their life (as Jesus did). Are we ready to do the Father’s will whatever this may ask from us?

“Lord, sometimes it is hard to understand the will of the Father. Give us a strong, unfailing faith to learn to let ourselves go in his hands. Thank you Lord!”